Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
There, on top of the files, is my cell phone.
Picking it up, I hold it for a while before placing it back in the box and shutting the lid.
Closing my eyes, I breathe deeply. Temptation will not win out. I am stronger than this. I do not need to turn it on. I’ve been fine without it for months. I don’t need it.
You don’t need it.
No. I don’t.
Opening the box again, I pick up my cell and hold down the power button. It starts without a problem. There are a ton of text messages and missed calls, but before I can check anything, the phone rings.
Staring at the display, I still.
Jett.
Jamie’s twin brother.
I need to take this.
I’m so tangled in the phone ringing that I don’t hear Nox move until he’s behind me. “Lily, baby, don’t answer.”
Still kneeling in front of the open box, my fingers twitch.
“Baby, that phone isn’t secure. Don’t answer.”
Standing, I hold the cell phone by my side and turn to Nox. He looks worried. I whisper, “I have to take this.”
Nox shakes his head. His lips thin. “It’s not a secure line, Lily. Anyone can track it.”
Looking back down at the still ringing phone, I whisper again, “I need to take this.”
Nox reaches out to take the phone, but I hold it out of reach. His eyes meet mine, confusion written all over them. Breathing heavily, I say, “I’m sorry.” Then run out the door, down the hall and into my old room. Taking the chair from inside the room, I drag it into the bathroom with me and lodge it under the door knob.
Not a second after I place it there, the door handle jiggles. Nox yells, “Babe! Stop! Do not answer!”
Closing my eyes, I press the call button. I hold the cell to my ear and whisper, “Hello?”
Nox bangs on the door and booms, “Hang up, Lily! Fuck!”
“Lily! Lily, darlin’! Please don’t hang up! It’s urgent!”
Oh my effing God!
A heavy Irish accent but the wrong brother. A clearly distressed Jamie Harrison begs for me to stay on the line.
The person who I thought was my friend.
The person who organized a hit on me.
He was going to have me killed for money.
And I trusted him.
My finger dances on the end call button. I accuse, “I thought you were my friend, Jamie.”
He yells, “I am, Lily! I feckin’ love ye! Yer my family, girlie. I’m more a feckin’ Flynn than I am a Harrison! Please listen ta me!”
There’s something about the desperation in his voice I don’t like.
I know Jamie. I know him well enough to know that he isn’t a shaking-in-your-boots type of guy. The boots are shaking now. I can almost hear them through the phone.
Steeling my voice, I tell him, “You’ve got thirty seconds to make me listen.”
His voice shakes as he whispers, “Never meant for this ta happen. It wasn’t meant ta happen like this. I swear, Lily.” Voice breaking, he mutters, “Swear on my own life.”
My chest squeezes. This is so unlike Jamie.
Sniffling, he states, “Jett’s trying ta kill me.”
What? No way.
Jett and Jamie are closer than close. I don’t believe it.
Covering my mouth with my hand, I listen wide-eyed as he starts, “Jett came up with an idea ta get money. We needed ta do something ta look after mam. Do ye ken? It was all for Mam, Lil.”
He moans low, as if in pain. Panting, he goes on, “Da knew about what happened when ye were a bairn. He told us all about it. We were desperate enough to use it against ye.” Panting harder, his voice shakes. “Said it’d be perfect. No one would get hurt. We get the money. Then we disappear.”
Jamie breaks into a coughing fit and my heart races.
More banging, then Nox yells, “Open the fucking door, Lily! Don’t make me break it down!”
Don’t hang up!
Eye prickling, I ask, “What then, Jamie?”
Breathing deeply, he steadies his voice. “Then it changed. Jett started ta hide shit from me. He changed the password on our laptop, Lily. I couldn’t get in. Took the work phone away from me. Started listening on yer father’s conversations and asking about ye. A lot, girlie. I knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t ken how much.”
Jamie makes a choked noise, he whispers through tears. “He framed me, Lily. I swear it.” My entire body jolts as he roars, “The feckin’ twat framed me!”
Tears fall onto my cheeks.
Fuck.
He isn’t lying. No way, no how. I whisper, “What does he want?”
His voice shakes, “Never about you, Lily. Never. He wants two things.” I wait patiently as he utters, “Money. And Terah. He’s on his way ta get her now. He knows where ye are, Lily. Don’t be fooled. He’s smarter than he shows. Ye need to get out of there. Get somewhere safe. He’s lost his mind.”